Expeditions 1937-1940 at the Burana Settlement
The difficulties of the recovery period in the country, the shortage of archaeologists in Central Asia, and their complete absence in Kyrgyzstan, as well as the closure of the Central Asian Committee for several years, slowed down the ongoing work on the study and restoration of architectural monuments in the region. Neither the establishment of the Kyrgyz Scientific Research Institute of Local Lore in October 1928 (based at the State Museum of the Kyrgyz SSR) nor the Inspectorate for the Protection of Historical Monuments and Art could ensure work on the scientific study of cultural heritage.
In a specially organized comprehensive expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR to survey the productive forces of Kyrgyzstan, an archaeological team led by S. A. Teploukhov worked with the aim of studying ancient ore mining and establishing connections with the latest geological research. It is clear that the applied tasks in archaeology during this period pushed the problems of restoring architectural monuments and studying the historical past of the region aside for several years.
Nevertheless, in 1929, A. I. Terenozhkin, sent to Kyrgyzstan by the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the USSR Academy of Sciences, conducted reconnaissance work in the valley of the Chu River. He surveyed a number of settlements, including Burana, and created a plan of the central ruins of the settlement. However, the information resulting from this work is very scarce. Most monuments were not described. The collected material was transferred to the Frunze Local Lore Museum, where it has partially survived.
From the mid-1930s, an important stage began in the development of Soviet historical science. It was marked by a series of measures aimed at restructuring historical science at a new stage in the life of Soviet society. With the establishment of the Committee of Sciences under the Council of People's Commissars of the Kyrgyz SSR in 1937, scientific research in the field of history and archaeology took on a planned character. This also reflected on the fate of Burana.
In the summer of 1937, a special expedition from the Committee of Sciences and the Kyrgyz Pedagogical Institute visited the Burana settlement, consisting of B. M. Zima, I. A. Chekaninsky, and photographer F. I. Balderman. They conducted detailed photographic documentation of the monuments, carried out reconnaissance work near the tower, and created a plan of the central ruins of Burana. Information about the conducted research was published in newspaper articles, but the plans were not preserved and were not reflected in scientific publications.
A significant place in the historiography of the studied monuments is occupied by the works of the Semirechye Archaeological Expedition, organized by the Committee of Sciences under the Council of People's Commissars of the Kyrgyz SSR and the Leningrad branch of the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1938-1940). The name of its leader, A. N. Bernshtein, who had already been conducting research in the field of Turkology and archaeology since the early 1930s, is associated with further studies of the settlements in the Chu Valley, including the Burana ruins and the Ak-Beshim settlement. The expedition obtained extensive materials characterizing the settled agricultural culture of the valley, including architecture, construction crafts, art, and ideology. In 1938, L. G. Rozina re-measured the Burana minaret.
Research on Burana during the Great Patriotic War
Based on the materials of the Semirechye Expedition, a number of monographs, articles, and brochures were published, which partially reflect the history of the study of Burana and provide a brief historical and archaeological overview of the region with the involvement of written sources. A. N. Bernshtein believed that the development of the cities in the Chu Valley proceeded in general accordance with urban construction in Maverrannahr due to the Sogdian colonization of Semirechye in the mid and second half of the first millennium AD. In particular, following V. V. Bartold, the Ak-Beshim settlement was compared with the historical Balasagun, and Burana — with its suburb — Kirmirau. However, A. N. Bernshtein considered only the central quadrangle as the settlement, while the remaining territory sprawling beyond the main fortification remained outside his view. Therefore, A. N. Bernshtein's observations on Burana were later revised.
During the difficult war period, amidst a general decline in scientific research work and its partial curtailment in the country, archaeological research continued in Kyrgyzstan. It was precisely during the war years that a "new milestone in the study of the historical past of the Kyrgyz people" occurred, marked by the establishment of the Kyrgyz branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 1943 and the subsequent organization of a number of expeditions by the Institute of Language, Literature, and History of the Kyrgyz Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in collaboration with evacuated employees from the Leningrad branch of the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
In publications of the 1940s, A. N. Bernshtein provided interesting information about Burana. He associated the surviving minaret with a "classical monument of Karakhanid culture" and believed that it could have been built in a place leaning towards the center of political power of the Karakhanids, which was Balasagun, while Burana served as its ribat.
At the Ak-Beshim settlement, the Semirechye Expedition laid several test pits and excavations that touched upon the upper layers of the monument. The main work was concentrated in the area adjacent to the shahristan from the east, which was referred to in publications as the "Kidan quarter," as buildings with tiles characteristic of the regions of Manchuria and the Amur were found here. A. N. Bernshtein considered these finds as one of the pieces of evidence that Ak-Beshim is Balasagun, and its expansion occurred in a southeastern direction during the Kidan period. Furthermore, large piles of construction material in the upper layers of the settlement, in the author's opinion, are the result of the plundering of Balasagun by the Kidans when it was taken by the Khorezmshah Muhammad in 1210.
The uncovered remains of a Buddhist chapel in the monastery complex were also attributed by A. N. Bernshtein to the time of Kidan dominance in Northern Kyrgyzstan, and he associated its construction with builders invited from Eastern Turkestan or local craftsmen copying samples of religious structures from Eastern Turkestan of that time, i.e., the 12th century. In one of his last works, he revised the dating of the chapel, attributing its construction to the early Middle Ages — the 9th century. The basis for this was the results of archaeological work at the Ak-Beshim settlement in 1953-1954.
In 1946, the first special work appeared — a small popular brochure dedicated to Burana. In it, A. N. Bernshtein, using the available architectural and art historical data from B. P. Denike, M. E. Masson, and N. M. Bachinsky, provides a brief history of the appearance of the minaret in the suburb of Balasagun in connection with the intensive construction of Muslim cult buildings by the Karakhanids who came to power.
In a monographic study on the architectural monuments of Kyrgyzstan, A. N. Bernshtein examines the Burana minaret in a separate chapter against the backdrop of the historical and cultural processes occurring in the region during the Middle Ages. The description of the monument is accompanied by a brief note on the history of its study and analogies in the decorative techniques of patterned brickwork characteristic of monuments in Central Asia from the first half of the 11th century. He dates the construction of the Burana minaret to this time.
During the Great Patriotic War, architectural monuments were studied under the auspices of the Union of Soviet Architects. New measurements of the minaret were made, its technical condition was recorded, and graphic sketches of the ornaments were created (authors V. E. Nusov, A. A. Golovanev, V. I. Kuptsov). This material served as the basis for further restoration work on the monument.